telekinesis
Enable an agent to recognise, describe and evaluate claims or fictional instances of moving physical objects through mental intention without treating an attributed ability as an established mechanism.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
recalled by Codex without web access - no source was read
Researched by: Codex
Purpose and description
Enable an agent to recognise, describe and evaluate claims or fictional instances of moving physical objects through mental intention without treating an attributed ability as an established mechanism.
Telekinesis is the purported ability to move or otherwise physically affect objects by mental action alone, without an established physical means of interaction, and has not been established as a reliably reproducible phenomenon.
It can be Classify a report by its target movement, intention attribution and empirical or fictional context.; Translate a claimed ability into a predefined target, intention interval and measurable motion outcome.; Identify ordinary causal routes that a demonstration must monitor or exclude.; Compare intention trials with suitable control trials under a documented protocol.; Update the assessment of a particular claim while preserving observations, limitations and competing explanations.; Check whether a fictional use follows the telekinetic capabilities and limits established for its setting..
Distinguishing features
The asserted outcome is physical object motion or position change; acquiring information alone does not qualify.
Mental intention is attributed causal responsibility; unexplained movement without that attribution is insufficient.
The claimed causal route excludes ordinary bodily manipulation and instrument-mediated commands, even when those alternatives might explain a demonstration.
A fictional occurrence establishes something within a specified narrative setting, not a real-world capability.
Broader uses of psychokinesis qualify here only insofar as the particular claim concerns object motion.
Scope
+ Definitions specifying how mental intention allegedly causes object motion
+ Claims, demonstrations and fictional depictions of telekinetic movement
+ Attributed targets, ranges, forces, precision and constraints
+ Controls and evidence needed to evaluate particular demonstrations
+ Distinctions between observed movement, causal attribution and established capability
- Telepathy and other proposed transfers of information between minds
- Clairvoyance, precognition and perception without ordinary sensory access
- Psychokinesis claims involving no object motion, except to clarify their relationship to telekinesis
- Brain-computer interfaces and other instrument-mediated control technologies
- Stage illusion methods as a general craft
- Diagnosis of people reporting unusual experiences
Characteristics
- Discourse context
- empirical claim | personal report | fictional depiction | hypothetical proposal | ambiguous Determines whether the agent should evaluate evidence, document testimony or check consistency with narrative rules.
- Intention-to-motion attribution
- identified intending subject linked to a specified target movement Separates a telekinesis claim from movement that is merely unexplained.
- Claimed causal route
- direct mental action | proposed intermediary | unspecified; record excluded ordinary routes Makes the claim testable and distinguishes it from technological remote control.
- Target and movement type
- target identity and material; translation | rotation | suspension | trajectory alteration | other specified motion Identifies what must be observed and which alternative causes require investigation.
- Target mass
- kg, with measurement method and uncertainty; unknown where unavailable Constrains interpretation of the claimed movement and any force estimate.
- Subject-target separation
- m, with geometry, barriers and uncertainty Records the claimed operating distance and opportunities for ordinary interaction.
- Motion response
- displacement in m, rotation in rad, onset latency in s and acceleration in m/s² where measurable Replaces impressions of movement with an explicit outcome tied to an intention interval.
- Claim assessment state
- unassessed | insufficiently specified | under evaluation | ordinary cause identified | unresolved | supported under stated protocol | contradicted under stated protocol Allows bounded conclusions without turning unexplained motion or a single result into proof of an ability.
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Also registered as vr.tr.telekinesis
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 5 bundles · 9 layers · 12 findings · 20 questions.
Meaning and claim boundaries Specify what telekinesis means in the account being modelled and which causal assertion makes it telekinetic.
The registry supplies no definition, so an agent must make the adopted meaning explicit without silently merging neighbouring concepts.
Motion-centred definition
Identify the physical change and distinguish telekinesis from other attributed mental capacities.
Qualifying object motion
Record the account's definition, its authority and the kinds of movement it includes.
- Does this account require displacement, or does it also include rotation, suspension and changes to an existing trajectory? definition
- Which source adopts this definition, and how does it distinguish telekinesis from broader psychokinesis? provenance
Mental causation boundary
Capture why the movement is attributed to intention and which intermediaries the claim permits.
Claimed intention pathway
Separate the asserted mental cause from bodily action, ordinary remote control and unspecified causes.
- What links the subject's particular intention to the target's particular movement in this account? definition
- Would movement produced through a sensor, actuator or other proposed intermediary still qualify under the adopted definition? boundary
Attributed motion capability Describe the target movements and operating limits asserted for a telekinetic subject.
An agent needs a bounded capability description to distinguish a specific claim from an unrestricted assertion of mental power.
Targets and kinematics
Record what allegedly moves and the measurable form of that movement.
Target motion profile
Describe target mass, support conditions, initial state and requested trajectory.
- What are the target's mass, material, support conditions and initial motion before the attempt? measurement
- What displacement, rotation or suspension duration constitutes success, and how precisely must it match the intended movement? measurement
Operating limits
Represent claimed dependencies on distance, access, attention and simultaneous targets.
Capability envelope
Record asserted limits separately from limits demonstrated in a test or established in a story.
- What limits are asserted for distance, target mass, barriers, visibility and number of simultaneous targets? boundary
- Which limits come from measured attempts, subject testimony or explicit rules of a fictional setting? provenance
Demonstration and causal controls Define how an alleged intention-driven movement can be observed and tested against alternative causes.
Object motion alone does not identify its cause; assessment requires controls tailored to the target and apparatus.
Intention trial design
Connect predefined intentions to motion measurements and suitable comparison periods.
Predefined motion test
Specify success criteria before observing results and retain the full sequence of attempts.
- How are target, direction, intention interval and success threshold fixed before each attempt? measurement
- How will intention trials be compared with randomized control intervals while retaining failed attempts and limiting observer cueing? action
Ordinary motion pathways
Examine environmental forces, hidden manipulation and recording artifacts relevant to the demonstration.
Alternative-cause controls
Document which alternative routes to apparent or actual movement were checked and which remain available.
- How are contact, concealed attachments, airflow, vibration, surface tilt, thermal effects and electric or magnetic forces monitored where relevant? measurement
- What apparatus inspection, continuous recording and independent access would distinguish physical movement from hidden actuation or a recording artifact? action
Evidence and contextual judgement Assess what a report establishes in its own context and what conclusions an agent may draw.
A testimony, controlled observation and fictional event require different forms of judgement and must not be promoted into interchangeable evidence.
Empirical evidence status
Track source access, repeatability, uncertainty and the scope of empirical conclusions.
Bounded causal assessment
Keep observed motion, association with intention and causal explanation as separate assessment steps.
- Are original recordings, calibration records, trial counts and analysis decisions available, and has an independent team repeated the specified test? provenance
- Does the evidence establish movement, an association with intention or a causal conclusion, and which unresolved alternatives limit the assessment? boundary
Fiction and report handling
Interpret narrative events and personal accounts without confusing their status with experimental findings.
Context-bound conclusions
Anchor each conclusion to the narrator, witness, work or test record that supports it.
- Is the event a witness's interpretation, an explicitly depicted fictional ability or an empirical claim, and which source fixes that context? provenance
- Should the agent document the report, seek testable details, assess experimental evidence or check the event against the fictional setting's established limits? action
Evidence and external alignment What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.
A model that cannot be lined up against existing standards, identifiers and practice cannot be adopted by anyone who already uses them.
Reported evidence
Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.
Check these first
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- No sense was supplied; this description assumes the conventional paranormal meaning rather than a particular fictional ability.
- Terminology overlaps with psychokinesis; distinctions such as macro- and micro-psychokinesis should not automatically be treated as varieties of telekinesis.
- This is a recall-based description, not a source review; specific experimental claims and assessments of their reproducibility require verification.
- Which of these check these first hold for the sense of telekinesis this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Real-world use
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- A concept investigated in parapsychology through tests of claimed mental influence on physical objects or systems.
- A fictional ability used in literature, film, games and other narrative media.
- An apparent effect simulated in stage magic and mentalism; such performances do not establish paranormal causation.
- Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of telekinesis this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Failure modes and hazards
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Apparent object movement can result from unnoticed contact, airflow, vibration, electrostatic forces or magnetic forces.
- Inadequate controls can allow deliberate trickery or inadvertent experimenter influence.
- Selective reporting, multiple testing and publication bias can make chance results appear evidential.
- Presenting an unexplained event as proof of mental causation confuses absence of an explanation with evidence for a specific explanation.
- Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of telekinesis this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- psychokinesis - Often used synonymously, but in narrower usage telekinesis concerns object movement while psychokinesis includes other purported mental effects on physical systems.
- telepathy - Telepathy concerns purported communication between minds, whereas telekinesis concerns purported influence on physical objects.
- levitation - Levitation describes suspension or raising against gravity; telekinesis specifies an alleged mental cause and can include movements other than lifting.
- brain-computer interface - A brain-computer interface uses measured neural activity, signal processing and physical actuators to control devices, providing an identifiable physical pathway.
- stage magic - Stage magic can produce the appearance of movement by thought through performance techniques; the appearance alone does not establish telekinesis.
- Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of telekinesis this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
What the second pass must settle
- Which reference definitions should anchor this registry entry, particularly where telekinesis and psychokinesis are treated as synonyms or as narrower and broader concepts?
- Does an existing Vercy world model already cover this concept, requiring a registry link instead of a separate publication?
- What does a review of primary studies and independent replications establish about particular telekinesis claims and their methodological limitations?
- Should deformation, self-levitation and prevention of otherwise expected movement count as telekinesis under this entry's adopted boundary?
- How should reports that attribute movement to unconscious mental activity be represented alongside claims requiring deliberate intention?